2 July 2022: Here it is, Independence Day weekend in the United States! How the time does fly! Seems like March was just last week! In any case, here we are and, as promised, here is the final offering on the history-making United States Navy ships. We'll pick up after the Spanish American War and the sinking of the USS Maine (where we left off last week) and move through recent times. Again, remember the prefix "USS" didn't come in to common usage until the presidency of Theodore Roosevelt, around 1905-6. From the same source, Mr. Stacker in WUN (on line):
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Commissioned in 1902, the
USS
Bainbridge was the first vessel to be classified as a destroyer by the U.S.
Navy. The bodyguards of the fleet, destroyers are quick, nimble,
distance-capable ships that escort larger, slower ships and defend them from
short-range attacks. They were originally called “torpedo boat destroyers.”
[ed: a far cry from the destroyers of today!]
Only
one major warship was lost during World War I, the USS San Diego, and it
sank after striking a German mine laid by a U-boat in U.S. waters off of Long
Island, New York. In 1914, America was still mostly only a regional naval
power, but after a series of escalations with Germany in the run-up to World
War I that culminated in the sinking of the Lusitania, President Woodrow Wilson
invested heavily into making America’s navy the most dominant in the world and
reshuffling the balance of power on the seas. The Naval Act of 1916 ordered the
construction of “10 battleships, six battle cruisers, 10 scout cruisers, 50
destroyers, 15 fleet submarines, 85 coast submarines, four gunboats, one
hospital ship, two ammunition ships, two fuel oil ships, and one repair ship”
in just five years, according
to GlobalSecurity.org.
Commissioned in 1908, the USS
North Carolina became an early adopter of what would become standard naval
technology in the decades and wars to come: catapult aviation. Unlike modern
carriers that have flight decks and launch systems, armored cruisers did not
have enough deck room for a plane to get up to flying speed on a moving ship, a
terribly dangerous endeavor that had never before been attempted. In 1915,
naval aviator Henry C. Mustin attempted to use an experimental catapult to
launch his plane off the deck of the USS North Carolina and into the sky—and it
worked, marking one of the most significant milestones in the history of naval
warfare.
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USS Lapwing
|
Silent, invisible, deadly, and impossible to engage in
battle, sea mines had struck terror into the hearts of sailors since at least
the Civil War. In 1918, the U.S. commissioned the USS Lapwing, the
Navy’s first minesweeper, which is a small, fast, and specialized warship that
can detect, remove, or safely detonate sea mines to clear lanes for shipping,
transport, and military operations. Representing one of the Navy’s great
defensive leaps forward, minesweepers now play a critical role in both military
and commercial operations around the world.
In 1920, the Navy converted the fuel ship USS Jupiter into
what would become the
USS
Langley. The conversion was based on large ships with flat decks designed
for fixed-wing aircraft to land on and take off from, which both sides had
experimented with during World War I. When the conversion was complete, the
Jupiter was the Langley, and the United States Navy had its first aircraft
carrier.
There have been eight ships named Enterprise dating back to
1775 and the Continental Navy with a ninth currently under construction, but
none are more famous (barring the fictional starship of “Star Trek”) or
more accomplished than the aircraft carrier that launched in 1936. The Navy’s
sixth carrier, the
USS Enterprise was one of
only three that would survive World War II, from which it emerged as the
deadliest and most decorated ship of the entire conflict. A first responder at
Pearl Harbor, it saw action in the Leyte Gulf, Guadalcanal, Midway, the
Doolittle Raid on Tokyo, and the list goes on.
Completed in 1940, the
USS Drum was the first of
the Gato-class submarines which, along with the similar Balao- and Tench-class
subs, were America’s first modern, mass-production submarines. The Drum and the
rest of the Gatos earned the lion’s share of the kills in the Pacific during
World War II. They represented the bulk of America’s submarine fleet during the
war and were the primary drivers of the destruction of the Imperial Japanese
Navy and merchant marine.
Like so many of the great American naval warships, the USS Arizona currently serves as
an educational museum, but it does so from its watery grave under the Pacific
Ocean in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The last of the Pennsylvania-class
super-dreadnought battleships, the Arizona was a World War I-era vessel that
was transferred to Pearl Harbor as part of a move to deter Japanese
aggression—it didn’t work. On Dec. 7, 1941—one of the most consequential dates
in the history of the Navy and the country—Japanese torpedo bombers destroyed and sank the Arizona, killing 1,177 crewmen and officers.
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USS Arizona
|
Commissioned in 1943,
the USS
St. Lo holds a grim place in the history of American naval warfare. On Oct.
25, 1944, during the battle of Leyte Gulf, the escort carrier became the first
major warship to be sunk by one of the most terrifying weapons ever unleashed
on World War II sailors. During a fierce engagement with the Shikishima Special
Attack Unit, Japan unleashed its first kamikaze suicide squads, whose pilots
intentionally crashed their explosives-laden planes into the St. Lo, killing
nearly 800 men.
In the early morning of Sunday, Sept. 2, 1945, the Japanese
surrendered to the United States and its allies, finally bringing an end to
World War II, the deadliest conflict in the history of human civilization. The
moment took place on the deck of the USS
Missouri, the last battleship ever commissioned by the United States and
one of the longest-serving ships in Navy history. It remained active for nearly
half a century, providing fire support during Operation Desert Storm before
being decommissioned in 1992.
 |
surrender on Missouri 1945
|
Just six years after the U.S.
unleashed the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima—thanks in part to a crucial
delivery by the USS Indianapolis—Congress authorized the construction of the
world’s first nuclear-powered submarine. Christened by first lady Mamie
Eisenhower in 1954, the USS
Nautilus
was enormous compared to the submarines that came before, it could
remain submerged almost indefinitely, it was silent, incredibly fast, and had
the most modern weapons systems of any attack submarine in the ocean.
[ed: there are at least a dozen more significant ships to list but they really bring little to the table in historical significance. We'll skip ahead to what may be the most radical and newest vessel in the fleet.]
Commissioned in 2016, the USS
Zumwalt is the flagship of the Zumwalt class of guided missile destroyers
that are known for their futuristic look and sharply angled profiles—but that’s
not just for aesthetics. Its unique shape is at the heart of its stealth
capabilities—despite their enormous size, Zumwalts have the profile of a
fishing boat on radar. A remarkably steady ship, both its hull and bow are
designed to pierce water and slice through waves.
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And there you have it, friends: one man's listing of the most significant vessels to wear the American flag - and this writer mostly agrees. We have some interesting posts queued up for future editions, but in the meantime, for those of you who follow us in the United States, Happy Independence Day! Show the flag and be proud of your heritage!
Until next time
Fair winds,
Old Salt
